The Hon. Isaac Borenstein (Ret.), a native of Havana, Cuba, emigrated to the United States in 1961 at the age of ten. He received a B.A. “With Distinction” from The George Washington University in 1972, a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 1975 and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1983. He is licensed as an attorney in Florida and Massachusetts. He was a Judge for 6 years at the Lawrence District Court and 16 years at the Superior Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where he presided over more than 400 jury and jury waived trials, and issued hundreds of decisions in civil and criminal cases. Since leaving the bench in September 2008 at age 58, he has tried several jury and jury-waived civil and criminal cases, has argued a number of matters at the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and has served as master and monitor on a number of cases. He also handles mediations and arbitrations through The Mediation Group (TMG) in Brookline, MA.

Much of Judge Borenstein’s professional life has been devoted to teaching. He has been a Lecturer in Law at Northeastern University School of Law since 1985 and an Adjunct Professor at Suffolk University Law School since 2002. Most frequently he teaches Evidence and Criminal Procedure, and has also taught Torts, Criminal Law, Administrative Law and trial practice. He has also taught full time at New England Law, in the civil clinical program at Harvard Law School, and as a Visiting Professor at Northeastern University School of Law on a one year leave from the Superior Court. In the spring of 2013, as a Lecturer in Law, he taught Professional Responsibility at Boston University School of Law. Apart from dozens of decisions on complex civil and criminal matters, he has published two articles, one on sentencing and the second on judicial participation in plea negotiations, in the Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy at Suffolk University Law School. He frequently participates as faculty in CLE programs for judges, attorneys and others.

Prior to going on the bench in 1986, he was a public defender in Roxbury, MA, and Miami, FL, and served as a Staff Attorney and Clinical Instructor at the Legal Services Institute (now the WilmerHale Legal Services Center) of Harvard Law School in Jamaica Plain, MA. He is the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in teaching, for his work as a judge and for public service. Examples of these include the prestigious Boston Bar Association Haskell Cohn Award for Distinguished Judicial Service (2001), the Cornelius J. Moynihan Excellence in Teaching Award at Suffolk University Law School (2012, 2007), and his selection as faculty speaker at three Northeastern University Law School graduations (1992, 1998, 2000).